The Relation Between the Local Church and the Mission Fields
By T. E. BOWEN
The officers of the local church constitute its executive board. These meet occasionally for prayer and counsel in planning the work of the church. The officers of the local conference, and its committee of five or more men, chosen by the conference itself when in session, constitute the executive board of management of the conference. The presidents of local conferences, and the managers of institutions within the union, chosen by the union conference in session, with its officers, constitute the committee, or executive board, to direct the work in each union conference territory. This committee meets, when occasion demands, to transact the business of the union conference. Presidents of union conferences, managers, and other representative men chosen at the session of the General Conference, together with its officers, compose the General Conference Committee, upon whom devolves the direction of the work in all territory throughout the world not organized into union conferences. This territory, strictly speaking, comprises our mission fields; although there are large mission fields embraced within some of the union conference territory, like Australia, and operated by the union conference committee itself. Prior to the General Conference in 1903, a number of men elected by the General Conference in session, composed the Foreign Mission Board. This board was incorporated, and at that time had its executive offices in the city of New York. At the General Conference in 1903 it was voted to transfer the work formerly carried on by the Foreign Mission Board to the General Conference Committee itself. This was done to simplify the work and lessen the expense of operation. Therefore, since that time the men composing the General Conference Committee also form the personnel of the Mission Board, the word “Foreign” being dropped from the name at this time, because our work had become so world-wide that really no country was, strictly speaking, now foreign to our work. The New York City office was closed, and the offices of the Mission Board were established in connection with the General Conference work, at that time located at Battle Creek, Mich. All are familiar with the circumstances leading to the removal of the headquarters to Washington. The men composing the General Conference Committee chosen at the last General Conference session, in 1905, numbered thirty-four. These men are widely scattered, being stationed by their work in all quarters of the globe. Any five members of this committee, including the president or a vice-president, constitute a working quorum, and can meet anywhere and transact business. The minutes of any of these sessions of the committee go to make up the official records of the General Conference between its quadrennial sessions. As most of the correspondence from the mission fields is directed to the general office at Washington, the principal work of the Mission Board is conducted by the officers and members of the committee located there. Many and difficult are the problems constantly coming up for consideration. Continuously the pleas for help come in from the fields, often several letters arriving in the mail from different parts of the earth, all containing earnest appeals for help. Some worker may have been forced to abandon his post of duty, and another is asked to take his place at once. Varied are the demands. But whatever they are, the Mission Board is dependent upon the organized field for the answer to the call—whether it be a demand for men or means. If the former, this usually calls for some tried worker, somewhere in local or union conference employ, to respond. This may mean a new language to be acquired, that the same familiar truths we all hold so dear may be told in a plain, simple manner to the people over in the other country. And then so much is involved in selecting these workers! Often their places are hard to fill, or the ill health of some member of the family stands in the way. All these things must be carefully considered. And during this time, the field has to wait. These weeks and months of waiting seem very long to the few struggling with the difficulties. In some instances the Board has spent one year, or even two full years, in diligent search for a suitable laborer to answer some specific call. Thus the Mission Board grapples with these mission problems week by week and month by month. In it all, the men bearing these burdens in connection with the general work, are simply the servants of the church, acting by the delegated authority vested in them by the individual church-members throughout the land,—your servants, under God, set for the finishing of this work in the limits of this generation.